Oblong receives funding to fix wastewater lagoons

OBLONG, Ill. (WTHI) - Right now the village's wastewater lagoons are full. A project to fix the lagoons and bring sludge down would cost roughly $450,000.

Oblong attempted to get grant funding last year. However to get that funding the village would have had to double its rates.

Oblong qualified for the Community Development Assistance program. Crawford County recently divided up funding they received and Oblong got enough to pay for the project in full.

News 10 had the chance to talk with Oblong mayor Teresa Fielder. She says the funding keeps the cost off the taxpayer.

Fielder says, "What would probably happen is we would have to start raising sewer bills to get enough money to do this project. This will keep us from doing that and this will put us in line for probably fifty years down the road that we'll be set."

The mayor says she hopes to see the project begin just after the harvest of 2021.